Hillary is Safeway; Obama is Whole Foods

David Brooks has a great column today on why college-educated, young urban professionals are all weak in the knees for Barack Obama:

... the essential competition in many consumer sectors is between commodity providers and experience providers, the companies that just deliver product and the companies that deliver a sensation, too. There’s Safeway, and then there is Whole Foods. There’s the PC, and then there’s the Mac. There are Holiday Inns, and there are W Hotels. There’s Walgreens, and there’s The Body Shop.

Hillary Clinton is a classic commodity provider. She caters to the less-educated, less-pretentious consumer. As Ron Brownstein of The National Journal pointed out on Wednesday, she won the non-college-educated voters by 22 points in California, 32 points in Massachusetts and 54 points in Arkansas. She offers voters no frills, just commodities: tax credits, federal subsidies and scholarships. She’s got good programs at good prices.

Barack Obama is an experience provider. He attracts the educated consumer. In the last Pew Research national survey, he led among people with college degrees by 22 points. Educated people get all emotional when they shop and vote. They want an uplifting experience so they can persuade themselves that they’re not engaging in a grubby self-interested transaction. They fall for all that zero-carbon footprint, locally grown, community-enhancing Third Place hype. They want cultural signifiers that enrich their lives with meaning....

Did you hear the message of Clinton’s speech Tuesday night? It’s a rotten world out there. Regular folks are getting the shaft. They need someone who’ll fight tougher, work harder and put loyalty over independence.

Then did you see the Hopemeister’s speech? His schtick makes sense if you’ve got a basic level of security in your life, if you’re looking up, not down.

Good stuff. I remember one pundit, I can't remember which, remarking after the New Hampshire primary, that while Obama won among the Starbucks crowd, Hillary sweeped the Dunkin' Donuts voters. Maybe you have to be from the East Coast to get it, but it was the perfect analogy.

Anyway, be sure not to miss this, the money quote in Brooks' masterpiece:

Obama offers to defeat cynicism with hope. Apparently he’s going to turn politics into a form of sharing. Have you noticed that he’s actually carried into his rallies by a flock of cherubs while the heavens open up with the Hallelujah Chorus? I wonder how he does that.

He he he. Although I don't much care for his politics, there's no denying that Obama is an awesome political presence. I think the Democrats would be fools not to pick him. But, that said -- and as James Taranto outlines in this column -- there is a creepy, pseudo-religious fervor that's breaking out among some of Obama's more ardent supporters, a real cult of personality in the making.

There's nothing wrong with getting inspired by politicians -- it would be nice if it happened more often in our cynical times. But those who seek meaning and personal fulfillment in politics are destined to be disappointed -- and they usually get snookered, too.